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Research

Description of Research Expertise

Research Program

Diet, the Gut Microbiome, and Host Metabolism

Program Summary

Dr. Wu is the Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he is the Associate Chief for Research in the Division of Gastroenterology and is also the Associate Director of the Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Disease. He is currently Director and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the American Gastroenterological Association Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education and is an elected member of both the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians. The research programs in the Wu laboratory focus on the mutualistic interactions between the gut microbiota and the host with a particular focus on metabolism. Growing evidence suggests that diet impacts upon both the structure and function of the gut microbiota that, in turn, influences the host in fundamental ways. Current areas of investigation include the effect of diet on the composition of the gut microbiota and its subsequence effect on host metabolism related to nitrogen balance as well as its impact on metabolic pathways in the intestinal epithelium, principally fatty acid oxidation. Through a UH3 roadmap initiate grant, he is helping to direct a project investigating the impact of diet on the composition of the gut microbiome and its relationship to therapeutic responses associated with the treatment of patients with Crohn’s disease using an elemental diet. Finally, Dr. Wu is leading a multidisciplinary group of investigators using phosphorescent nanoprobe technology to examine the dynamic oxygen equilibrium between the host and the gut microbiota at the intestinal mucosal interface.